Read the Report

Los Angeles, CA, May 6 – A new report from Think Tank for Inclusion & Equity (TTIE), Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, and Women in Film shows that more writers rooms are including BIPOC and women writers, but other communities, including the disability community, still are being left out. The report, titled “Behind The Scenes: The State of Inclusion and Equity in TV Writing,” covers the results of an online survey with 1,226 participants, plus results from two focus groups.

According to the report, “93.0% of writers said their most recent writers room had no Disabled or Deaf writers.” Upper-level Disabled or Deaf writers are even more scarce, with only 2.6% of writers reporting that their most recent writers room had at least one upper level Disabled or Deaf writer.

In rooms with Disabled and Deaf representation, 91.7% of Disabled writers said they were the only staffed writers from their underrepresented communities in their most recent writers room. [continue reading…]

“The fundamental DNA among all those of good will remains the same: meaningful inclusion and true empowerment.”

Los Angeles, May 2 – Having worked in inclusive public policy since the 1990s, Ollie Cantos is a firm believer in getting comfortable with being uncomfortable in order to create change in the world. Currently serving as Special Assistant in the Office of the Assistant Secretary at the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) as well as Vice Chair of RespectAbility’s Board of Advisors, Cantos assures that the frank conversations birthed from uncomfortable questions have the very real and attainable potential to transform negative vehicles of law, policy, and practice into empowered ones. The courage toward honest discourse of convulsive topics has diversified America’s governing power as years progress. [continue reading…]

Vanni Le

Vanni Le is RespectAbility’s first-ever Entertainment Outreach Program Manager. She brought brand strategy and program management experience from both the entertainment and nonprofit fields, having previously worked at the Walt Disney Studios, Sony Pictures Entertainment, the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, March of Dimes and most recently A+E Networks.

“Vanni Le has only been on our team since November of last year, but she already has made a massive difference,” said Lauren Appelbaum, Vice President of Communications at RespectAbility. “As our work in the entertainment industry continues to rapidly expand, we are so lucky to have her on our team.” [continue reading…]

The Edlavitch D.C. Jewish Community Center (EDCJCC) has a long history of inclusion and acceptance. Since its initial creation in 1911, the DCJCC welcomed members of the Jewish community from all backgrounds. The building had extensive renovations in 2019 and is now accessible to all who enter its doors. In 2016, the Center was renamed in honor of Ginny and Irwin Edlavitch, long time philanthropists and community leaders. EDCJCC’s values include Judaism, community, teamwork, diversity, personal development, responsibility, excellence and hospitality. Each of those values make the EDCJCC an inclusive, welcoming and accepting community. [continue reading…]

Joshua Steinberg

I am a person with disabilities. Mine are nonvisible, and because of that, it is not immediately obvious to others that I have disabilities, but they are there. However, even though I have disabilities I want the same things as other people. I want a good job, a house, a nice car, a vacation, and I want to fall in love and get married. It has always been difficult to determine when the right time is to disclose that you have a disability when you are talking to someone new. [continue reading…]

An earlier version of this article appeared on the website Kol Birah, which has since gone out of business. It has been lightly updated and reposted with the permission of the author.

Ariella Barker

14 years ago, I appeared in front of the Rabbinical Council of America to gain their permission to officially convert to Judaism. The Rabbi asked me one pointed, unforgettable question: “As a [non-Jew], you are able to marry most anyone in the world. Why would you convert and limit yourself to less than 2 percent of the population?” For me, the answer was simple. I only wished to marry a Jewish man and to raise my children with Jewish values. If I remained a non-Jew, I would be unable to marry anyone. Alas, over a decade later, I am still unmarried.

Before joining the Jewish community, despite my disability, I rarely struggled to find a partner. But once I was Jewish, and I was dating with the purpose of marriage, my love life changed dramatically. [continue reading…]

Los Angeles, April 29 – Four people. One ice cream truck. One historic drought. One oncoming storm. Set in 1993 North Carolina, Drought is a feature film that examines sibling dynamics, dealing with differences, learning to understand the people you love, and accepting yourself.

In the film, a younger sister, Sam takes on the parenting role of watching over her autistic brother, Carl. When their mom gets sent to jail, the siblings’ estranged older sister, Lillian, shows up at the house to help out. Spurred by Carl’s love of weather and storm chasing, Lillian and Sam take their dad’s ice cream truck to help Carl chase the impending tempest. The siblings are accompanied on the journey by Sam’s friend, Lewis. [continue reading…]

RespectAbility’s Entertainment Media Consulting Team

Delbert Whetter

Delbert Whetter is deaf, from a multi-generational deaf family, and has attended both deaf schools and hearing schools and universities throughout his life. He possesses native fluency in both American Sign Language (ASL) and English.

Whetter is the Chief Operating Officer and Head of Business Affairs for Exodus Film Group. He served as the lead business affairs executive for numerous entertainment and digital content providers for nearly two decades. Delbert has negotiated talent and production agreements including acquisition, development, and film financing arrangements, and licenses of intellectual properties. He has worked on Exodus animated features, IGOR, The Hero of Color City, and Bunyan & Babe, receiving Co-Executive Producer credit on Exodus’ two recent films. Delbert earned his law degree from the George Washington University Law School in Washington, D.C., and his MBA from Pepperdine University’s Graziadio School of Business and Management.

Delbert serves as Vice Chair on the Board of Directors of RespectAbility, a national non-profit organization that works with Hollywood to promote inclusion, representation, and authentic portrayals of people with disabilities in media. He also serves on the Disability Advisory Board of SFFILM. He was appointed in 2018 by the City of Santa Monica to serve a four-year term on its Disabilities Commission and currently serves as its Vice Chair.

He is frequently engaged to consult, speak and conduct trainings at numerous entertainment studios, companies and organizations including Hollywood, Health & Society, Walt Disney Studios and its affiliated film/television entities, NBC, DreamWorks Animation, Netflix, and Six Flags Theme Parks.

Delbert is executive producing the upcoming animated feature film Pierre the Pigeon-Hawk, starring the voices of will.i.am, Jennifer Hudson, Snoop Dogg, Howie Mandel and Whoopi Goldberg.

Delbert is currently producing Flash Before the Bang, a live-action narrative feature film based on a true story about an all-deaf high-school track & field championship team (Film Independent 2020 Fast Track Finance Market & 2018 Producing Lab, 2019 PGA Power of Diversity Master Workshop, 2019 SFFILM Rainin Grant recipient, & 2019 WGA Disability Scene), and Live at the Deaf Club: The Story of Punk Rock at the San Francisco Deaf Club, a documentary about the legendary 1970’s punk rock venue (2020 California Humanities Grant recipient).

[continue reading…]

Audio Description Ensures Equal Access for Blind Viewers, While Closed Captioning Assists Viewers who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing

Hollywood, CA, April 25 – This year’s Oscars ceremony will be the most accessible for viewers yet. In a broadcast first, live audio description will be available for the live telecast nationwide. Google is sponsoring both this year’s closed-captioning and audio description. The addition of audio description, which is audio-narrated descriptions of a program’s key visual elements, ensures that viewers who are blind and low-vision will be able to take in all the action occurring on the screen and provide a much richer experience as they listen to the more traditional aspects of the show from the presenters, winners and performances. Per a press release from ABC, the closed captioning will be provided by VITAC, and the audio description will be provided by VITAC and Audio Eyes. [continue reading…]